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Netflix nabs a million UK subscribers, promises to 'invest heavily' to outbid Sky

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has threatened a bidding war with UK Broadcaster BSkyB for premium movie rights, and he could have the war chest to back it up -- the company also hit the million subscriber mark in the UK only seven months after launching there. Netflix UK boasted that it even got there faster than Twitter or Facebook did globally, and chalked up the success to most British households having at least one household streaming device. Meanwhile, Hastings said the US company intends to pry premium Hollywood movie rights away from BSkyB, promising to be "really aggressive in our bidding." The streaming service will have to overcome more than money, however -- the UK's Competition Commission granted BSkyB a rights extension to protect it from the very likes of Netflix.

[Source: Engadget]

McDonald's tests PayPal payments in mobile app trial

McDonald's is testing a new payment system that could allow customers to purchase their meals using mobile devices. According to Reuters, 30 restaurants in France are involved in the trial, which sees customers' payments processed by eBay's payment arm, PayPal. The concept was demonstrated at a McDonald's conference in Orlando, Florida, earlier this year as part of a booth featuring technology expected to go live in the next couple of years, Reuters reports. The participating French restaurants allow customers to order food through their smartphones or tablets, using McDonald's mobile application, and then pay through PayPal. Customers then wait in a separate line to pick up their app-ordered meals. 

[Source: To read the full article visit CNET News]

LG Optimus Vu in September with Tegra 3

LG has announced that its newest flagship phone, the Optimus Vu (see our review), will be available globally in September. It has been available in only Japan and Korea thus far and will see a release next month in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Latin America and then the U.S. sometime this quarter. This news comes on the heels of LG's announcement that they have sold more than 500,000 worldwide already, which is quite impressive. That number will likely see a big increase once it hits more markets this fall.  The Optimus Vu sports a beautiful 5-inch screen, Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), 8MP rear-camera, a 1.3MP front-facing camera and 32GB of memory. Also notable is the fact that the international Optimus Vu will run a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 CPU, rather than the dual-core Snapdragon S3 found in the Korean and Japanese variants. It's also likely the international Vu will lose some of its quirkier features, like the slide-out antenna for watching digital TV broadcasts.

[Source: To read the full article visit Android Central]

Syfy for iPad app adds Sync feature, second screen content launches Tuesday with Face Off

We're still not sure about the Sci Fi / Syfy Network name switch, but whatever you call it the network is the latest to jump on the trend of second screen features. Currently available on the latest version of its iPad app (and listed as "coming soon" for Android tablets on the official page an in the demo video embedded after the break), Syfy Sync will work with certain shows to pull up interactive content on your mobile device along with whatever is playing on TV. The first show to get the treatment is the season premiere of Face Off airing August 21st. Naturally, there's a social media element as well, with sharing to Facebook and Twitter, as well as integrated GetGlue check-ins. Whether or not you dig the second screen aspects or are just waiting for some better shows to come on, there are other upgrades with a new UI as, show related photo galleries and support for AirPlay to play the app's video clips on your TV. Syfy for iPad 2.0 with sync is available for free in iTunes, we'll let you know when the Android version is upgraded and if similar features head to any other mobile platforms soon.

[Source: Engadget]

Cowon's X9 PMP now shipping, features up to 110 hours of music playback

The latest addition to Cowon's line of portable media players is reaching consumers' hands in the good, old US of A as shipping is now underway for the X9. The PMP -- which comes in either black or white -- measures 72.5mm wide, 114.9mm tall and weighs in at 159 grams. It also features a 4.3-inch touchscreen, your choice of either 8GB, 16GB or 32GB of internal flash memory, as well as a MicroSD slot. Although good sound quality is typically Cowon's calling card, the X9 also serves up a healthy helping of battery life with the company claiming up to 110 hours of music playback. Operating time when watching video is said to be up to 13 hours while charging time takes 4.5 hours via AC adapter and 6 hours when juicing through a USB connection. Supported file formats include MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, APE, WAV, XviD, WMV and ASF. Unlike the Plenue Z2 and the D3, the X9 opts out of using the Android OS -- which is either good or bad depending on one's preferences. Its 480 x 272 resolution is also decidedly lower than, say, the 800 x 480 seen in the Z2's 3.7-inch screen. As for cost, folks interested in getting the X9 will have to lighten their wallets to the tune of $229.99. For more details, check out the Cowon site via the link below.

[Source: Engadget]

Sony announces new Exmor RS cameraphone sensor: upgraded signal processing, HDR video recording

That camera sensor in your smartphone is very likely to be a Sony-made module which means it's worth keeping an eye on the company's latest sensor developments. Your next phone could be packing one of its latest Exmor RS camera modules, a stacked CMOS image sensor that's currently being readied for future smartphones and tablets. At the moment, three components fall under the new RS label, with two eight-megapixel sensors (one with new camera signal processing tech) and a top-drawer 13-megapixel module. Alongside the new sensors, Sony's crafted new f/2.2 lenses alongside a refreshed auto-focus module and all of them will be capable of HDR video recording. The company's now working on improving sensor behavior, image quality and keeping it all tiny enough for that next pricey phone contract. The first products are expected to arrive in October, so we may not see it in Sony's very next tablet, but development could be done in time for next year's effort -- and help validate the manufacturer's imaging investment.

[Source: Engadget]

Amazon's Instant Video app for iPad adds search functionality with latest update

When Amazon's Instant Video app made its way to the iPad earlier this month, it gave users yet another way to stream content to their mobile devices, but was lacking some key features. Fortunately, an update to the app has rolled out to fix one of the major omissions: search functionality. The added tool provides instant results when typing a name or title, and the search can be filtered to display all videos or only those available for Amazon Prime subscribers. Prior to the update, users were only able to browse through "a selection of top Prime Instant Video titles" or items added to their Watchlist. With over 120,000 videos available for streaming, the lack of a search function was a major downside to Amazon's app. The update also includes various bug fixes and an improved notification bar, but unfortunately does not add AirPlay support or resolve the issue of requiring Wi-Fi connectivity to stream videos.

[Source: The Verge]

McDonald's testing PayPal-powered mobile payments in France

McDonald's is testing PayPal's mobile payment services in France, in a move that could see Paypal as the mobile payment platform of choice at one of the world's largest fast food chains. Reuters reports that the trials span across thirty restaurants. Customers can order food online or on a mobile phone app, and then pick up their meal in a separate, dedicated lane. PayPal has had some luck with retail partnerships, but a deal with McDonald's would be be valuable, in light of the restaurant's 30,000 locations. It might also help to stave off their rival Square's rapid ascent: Square recently partnered with Starbucks, which will bring the company's mobile payment solution to the coffee magnate's 7,000 locations this fall.

[Source: The Verge]

Facebook Passed Yahoo To Become The Second Largest Video Site In The U.S. In July

comScore’s monthly online video data is in and it looks Facebook passed Yahoo in July to become the second largest video site in the U.S. behind Google/YouTube. According to comScore, more than 184 million U.S. Internet users watched 36.9 billion online content videos in July, while video ad views totaled 9.6 billion.

Google/YouTube still outpaced the rest of the online properties with 157 million unique viewers in July, compared to 53 million from Facebook, 48.7 million from Yahoo, 44.8 million from Vevo and 42.7 million from Microsoft. Nearly 36.9 billion video content views occurred during the month, with Google Sites generating the highest number at 19.6 billion, followed by AOL with 665 million. Google also took the top spot for engagement as well.

Facebook has passed Yahoo in terms of views in the past, but more recently the social network has been behind Google, Yahoo, and even Vevo (from May).

In terms of ads, Google ranked first with 1.5 billion ads, followed by Hulu with 1.2 billion, Adap.tv with 1.1 billion, SpotXchange Video Ad Marketplace with 1 billion and TubeMogul Video Ad Platform with 830 million. Time spent watching video ads totaled 3.9 billion minutes, with Adap.tv delivering the highest duration of video ads at 627 million minutes. Video ads reached 52 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 61 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 46, while ESPN delivered an average of 26 ads per viewer.

[Source: TechCrunch - Read more here]

Perfect: Steve Jobs’ Stolen iPad Ended Up With Kenny The Clown

I’ll admit — at times in my working life, I’ve had to use some imagination to make certain bits of tech or business news seem interesting (not at TechCrunch, of course, because weonly ever write about incredibly interesting things.) But once in a while something comes along that is just perfect as it is.

The story of Kenny the Clown and Steve Jobs’ stolen iPad is one of those things.

So, you’ve heard about how the Palo Alto home belonging to the family of the late Steve Jobs was burgled recently? And more than $60,000 worth of personal items and computers were stolen by a 35-year-old man named Kariem McFarlinwho was eventually caught — and apparently had no idea at first whose home he was breaking into?

Well, it turns out that McFarlin is old buddies with Kenneth Kahn, a San Francisco Bay Area resident who is also known as Kenny the Clown. And after spending hours having a five finger discount free-for-all Chez Jobs, McFarlin was apparently feeling generous — so he gifted Kahn with one of the purloined iPads, a 64GB silver one.

[Source: TechCrunch - Read more here ]

Google Launches Private Messages In Hangouts, Adds New Video And Sound Features To The Hangouts API

This is probably not the Google+ API you have been waiting for, but Google just announced the launch of version 1.2 of its Hangouts API, which comes with a number of significant new features for developers who are building products on top of Google’s group video chat service. In addition, Google also just launched private messages in Hangouts as an experimental feature.

[Source: TechCrunch - Read more here]